An integrated circuit (e.g., an electronic circuit and/or an electrical system formed on a single substrate of a semiconductor material) may become denser and/or may operate at a faster speed as semiconductor technology improves due to smaller physical size of a transistor. Therefore, the integrated circuit may dissipate more power per unit area as the transistor of the integrated circuit switches logic states during operation (i.e., a dynamic power dissipation density). This dissipation of more power per unit area may result in a malfunction of the integrated circuit (e.g., because of overheating).
Although the physical size of the transistor may become smaller, a physical size of the integrated circuit may increase because improvements in technology may enable handling of larger wafer sizes. As a result, a total power dissipated by the integrated circuit may increase. An increase in the total power dissipated by the integrated circuit may reduce a battery lifetime in mobile and/or portable applications.
In addition, a reduction in a supply voltage of the integrated circuit may adversely affect a speed of the integrated circuit because the transistor may be driven by a lower supply voltage (e.g., may take more time to switch). Therefore, the integrated circuit may be divided into different voltage domains. For example, in the integrated circuit, a speed-critical circuit domain may be powered using a higher voltage and a non-speed critical circuit domain may be powered using a lower voltage. However, it may not be possible to directly connect different voltage domains without increasing a power dissipation (e.g., a dynamic and/or a static power dissipation).
A level shifter (e.g., a voltage converter, etc.) circuit may be an electronic circuit to couple different voltage domains of the integrated circuit. The level shifter may introduce several inefficiencies (e.g., additional delay, take up additional space, and/or consume additional power) in the integrated circuit. Further, some types of the level shifter circuit may increase the total power dissipated by the integrated circuit (e.g., more logic gates may have to be driven by a higher power supply).
A duty cycle distortion may also occur as a signal travels across the level shifter circuit (e.g., due to delays of a falling path and/or a rising path in the level shifter circuit). In addition, due to a process variation (e.g., changes in oxide thickness, gate length, etc.), the level shifter may fail to operate correctly. Similarly, a temperature variation (e.g., a heat generated when the integrated circuit is operating) and/or a voltage variation (e.g., a supply voltage) may also cause failure of the integrated circuit when the level shifter is used.